Triple Dog Dare
by Radioactive Nerd
Summary: Marty and Dave do something really stupid...


**Disclaimer: Recognizable characters belong to Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. Un-recognizable characters belong to myself. All rights reserved. **

* * *

The lot behind the Burger King was No-Man's-Land. Everyone ignored it. Except everyone that wasn'tcurious about its inhabitor. That curiosity had been going on since the early sixties. Longer than most of the curious onces had been alive. Only some rare brave kids had actually explored there. Their heroic recaps were spread around the kid population of Hill Valley. Changing and morphing each time they were told to a new generation of eager listeners.

"My uncle ran for his nine-year-old life after he saw what was beyond the cracked window," Larry, the neighborhood residential legend-teller, said. His uncle was the only person (that lived in Lyons Estates) to venture into the Unknown Lot. "It was so scary that his voice stuttered when he told his friends. Since then, my uncle always talks with a stutter. All because of Old Man Brown and his wack-o experiments. The end."

The kids that were listening oohed from their seats on the sidewalk. Most were talking to each other, excitedly, from the story well told. All but the youngest of them, whom was shaking a little and looking back and forth. As if a scary old man could jump out at any second.

"Marty stop acting like a scaredy baby," David McFly said to his younger brother. "If you're even too scared for this story then I'm not gonna let you hang out with me."

"But I _am_ scared," Marty whined and jumped at the sound of a nearby car starting up. David's friends laughed. "Stop it!"

"Jeez Dave," Larry said. "He's almost as wimpy as your dad!"

The other kids laughed again while Marty sniffled. He looked up at Dave and Dave just rolled his eyes. Until another boy said: "It must run in the family." then Dave bolted up and started socking his friend. They kept wrestling each other, the boy yelling "McFly McChicken! McFly McChicken!". Marty watched his older brother and decided to defend the family too. Marty stood up with his hands on his hips like Superman posed in victory.

"We are not wimps!" Marty screamed with all his might. Everyone looked at him including Dave, his tormentor, Larry the Legend Teller, and half the people down the street. Marty squinted at all of them, desperate to send the message that he and his brother were brave. Even though Marty looked like a shrimp and Dave a goofier version of Shaggy Rogers.

"All right if you're _so_ brave," Larry began, gaining the entire attention of the group of friends. "Then hows about a dare?"

"We're up for anything," Dave shot back and put his arm around Marty's shoulders. Marty nodded like a bobblehead doll, challenging Larry to take them on.

"I dare both of you to go pay a visit to Old Man Brown's house."

A wave of pure terror washed over in Marty's tiny gut. Visit Old Man Brown? Visit Old Man Brown? Did Dave's friends really want him gone that bad? Marty had to hold himself to stop from shaking again. There was no way on Earth that he would do that. Dave seemed to agree.

"What!" Dave exclaimed. "You're nuts."

"Okay then I double dare you," Larry said. He seemed to be relishing the fact that he was in control. The other boys began talking among themselves.

"A 'double dare' Holy cow…"

"In Old Man Brown's garage? They're dead meat…"

"Take it! Take it! Take it!"

Marty looked up at Dave and saw that he was very, very nervous. For a brief second Marty had no idea why. Then he remembered one of the most respected laws of the kid kingdom: Thou shall NEVER turn down the Triple Dog Dare or thou will be thereby obliterated into cowardsville. There was no way around it. It was a rock hard Do or Dork. As Larry prepared the predicted next statement, the other boys held their breath and the McFly brothers stood stock-still and braced for it.

"Then I…" Larry began pausing only for attention. "Triple dog dare you to do it!" That was it, their doom had arrived. Marty squeezed his eyes shut, mentally trying to rebell against the maternal kid code that had been installed in his brain.

"Any details?" Dave asked. _Oh boy we're doomed, _Marty thought.

"Just looking in the window is old news, right guys?" The other boys nodded. "So I triple dog dare you and your baby brother to go _into_ Old Man Brown's house tomorrow _and_ bring one of his experiments out."

There were several gasps from everyone around Dave and Marty. No one, little kid or teen, had EVER gone into the dumpy old garage in back of Burger King. It was a great risk. It was a crazy stunt. It was a suicide mission.

"We're in."

Marty's jaw dropped. Weren't big brother's supposed to be both older and smarter?

"Dave…"

"Can it Marty!" Dave said. "I know what I'm doing."

Marty gulped a huge lump down his throat. He should of stuck to playing dolls with Linda.

0 0 0

"Marty you awake?"

Marty moved his flashlight off of his new _Western Willy _comic and over to Dave's bed. The beam of yellow light revealed his brother sitting up in the identical trundle bed. Marty felt his brother's worry across their bedroom.

"Hey turn out the brights!" Dave whispered and Marty flicked off the beam. The darkness of the summer night returned. It filled the room except for the safety of the dim Micky Mouse night light.

"Look I'm sorry about this whole dare thing," Dave said. "But you know the rules, right? If we don't go through with this we'll both be branded the McChicken Brothers. You don't want that to happen do you?" Marty shook his head and Dave smiled that goofball smile. "Good." His bedsprings squeaked as he lied back down. "Trust me, Marty. Being branded a wimpy no-good chicken is the worst thing that could happen to you."

_Wow, _Marty thought as he too lied down in his bed. Was being a wimp that bad? Marty thought of his father, who's snoring could be heard all the way across the hall. _Yes, yes it is. I don't want to be like dad. Heck, nobody wants to be like dad. _Marty wondered if that was mean but his mind nawed on it slower from its tiredness. As he drifted off to sleep, he compared the Worst Thing That Could Happen with the chicken label and getting hit by a truck.

0 0 0

The following morning Marty had trouble eating his Froot Loops. Dave couldn't eat either. Along with their natural curiousness about the mysterious garage behind the Burger King was joined with anxiety. They would never admit to their friends or even to each other but: they were scared. So, neither of them said much or did much throughout that Saturday. Their parents barely noticed anyway. Their mother, Lorraine, sat in front of the TV with several cans of Bud Lite and left over pizza. George, their father, was probably sitting at his lousy desk at his lousy office, working extra hours for somebody else. Their sister Linda was at her friend's house across the street.

Marty followed his brother around, asking to play cards like War or Go Fish to distract himself. They ended up tossing a baseball to one another while they lied in their beds. Eventually the games ended then the expected knock on the McFly house door came. Dave answered it.

"You ready?" Larry and the other friends of Dave were flocked in their front yard. There were more than just them. Kids in Lyons Estates from ages five to fifteen were crowded in their front yard too. Marty looked past his brother's thin waist and at all of the boys and girls. No doubt word had spread.

"Yeah we're ready," Dave shot back. He turned away from the group of kids and whispered to Marty. "Get your backpack."

Marty zoomed back to their bedroom and tugged on the red straight-from-Sears sack. _I just hope Dave knows what he's doin'… _Marty ran out of the room. His mother was still loafing on the sofa and aware of his rampage even though the TV was nearly on full blast. She lifted up her head and asked: "Marty, baby, who's at the door?"

"Dave's friends," Marty answered. Hey, it was half true. Larry and the others were waiting outside with the rest of the mob.

"If you're going outside with them tell David to watch you," Lorraine said before her head went back to the static-ridden screen. Marty ran to the door.

"And no fire crackers!"

"What's she yelling about now?" Dave asked.

"Nothing," Marty said and jumped off the front steps. The memory of Dave's words last night repeated in his head like a mental recording. "Let's get going! I ain't a'scared of any wack-o old guy!"

Oddly enough, no adults questioned why a huge group of kids, of a range of ages, were walking down to the Burger King. Not even when the kids led by Larry, Dave, and Marty, walked right past the fast food eatery. When they all got to the lot of Old Man Brown, they were out of sight of any adult in the street. Everyone stopped and just stared at the shabby garage. It was fifty years old and maybe older. Marty took in all specifics of the structure. He heard that it was once matched with a mansion. The mansion was set on fire mysteriously and burned to the ground. No one knew how and no one knew why. Marty gripped the metal fence with his small fingers. Could Old Man Brown have burned down his own house?

"Is he even in there?" Dave's voice broke through Marty's thoughts. "If he's in there he'll catch us before we can get through this fence."

Marty let go of the metal fence and took a step back. Larry grouped Dave's friends together in a huddle. Neither McFly brother could overhear what they were saying. There was a ton of muttering and whispering until the guys finally de-huddled and faced Dave and Marty. Marty scanned Larry's face and the thirteen-year-old didn't look like his mind was changed at all.

"That's a risk you're gonna have to take," Larry said with a shrug. "And remember: bring one of his experiments out."

Dave sighed and looked up from the garage and at the darkening sky. The sun was setting and dark shadows the garage created were stretching over to them. As if trying to swallow them up before Dave or his little brother could cross the fence. Just in case, Dave reached in his pocket and fumbled his fingers around the secret mase he had brought with him. Phew, it was still there. He wondered if Marty had brought some kind of weapon with him too. He hoped so.

Marty stood on tip-toes to unlatch the fence but was a foot too short to reach. Dave pushed down on the latch and pulled the fence door open.

"Come on Marty," Dave said. The two crept onto Old Man Brown's property. "Let's win us this dare."

Dave glanced left and right before bolting across the ground and into Old Man Brown's trash cans. He peeked over the black smelly bags and waved Marty over. Marty started walking over but Dave was mouthing silent shouts of: "Don't walk, run! Run! Or he'll see you!" Marty ducked down and ran the rest of the way to the trash cans. He dove next to Dave. Safe! For now.

They both peeked over the mess of metal cans and black plastic to see the garage. No movement in sight. No mad man storming towards them. No detectable shadow in the window. Marty glanced back at the group of kids. They were still crowding around the fence, watching them. Marty waved frantically, trying to tell them to quit crowding.

"Marty what are you doing?" Dave demanded.

"Old Man Brown's gonna notice kids swarming by his fence!" Marty said and his brother nodded. He shooed the kids away and they all ran off until it was only Larry the Legend Teller and Dave's other three friends. They all gave Marty and Dave a thumbs up before ducking into the Burger King dumpster. That was it, they really were on their own now.

"Marty stay here. I'm gonna check if there's a back door or hatch or something." Dave ran off to whatever backyard Old Man Brown had. He ducked as he ran, which was pretty funny because Dave looked like Big Bird in the battlefield. Marty started laughing. _Quiet! _His brain's inner voice commanded. _You're on a mission here. _Marty pretended to be a soldier inside his own head, saluting to his mind "Yes sir!"

"What are you saluting for?" Dave asked after he thumped behind their hiding place. "Never mind. I found an unlocked door on the side. It doesn't squeak or have an alarm either. Let's go."

They used the previous sneak method to get back across the front and to the side door. Marty didn't even have to duck because he could hide behind his brother. Dave turned the knob extra slowly then pushed his hand on the chipped paint of the wooden frame. Marty held his breath as the door _CREEEAAAKKKED_ open. Here it was and here they were. The first ever kids to actually enter the forbidden home of Old Man Brown. It was a historical moment. Both Dave and Marty looked back at their friends in the dumpster to make sure they had eyewitnesses.

Dave and Marty didn't budge. Their sneakered feet stayed right behind the thin slab of wood where the door closed. Marty looked at Dave and Dave down at Marty. What if the entryway was booby trapped? What if Old Man Brown had heard them outside and was armed and ready? What if the cops had been called or worse: their mother! The barrage of scenarios didn't help Marty or Dave. A very legend was in progress and neither of the McFly brothers could move an inch!

"On three," Dave whispered and grabbed Marty's hand. "One… two… two in a half…" Marty focused on the counting so hard that he could actually hear the time ticking. Like a clock. In fact, Marty was sure that the ticking in his head was coming from ouside his head too. "Three!"

They jumped into the garage. Marty's feet skid on the dusty cement floor and he fell against a table. Dave managed to catch himself before scraping his knees and elbows on the floor. They both tugged themselves up and looked around. Nope. Old Man Brown wasn't aiming a shot gun at them or anything. The coast was clear but the garage sure wasn't.

As Marty and Dave wandered around, they took in the sights of the local Great Unknown. Which, was nothing short of weird. Old Man Brown sure had a lot of junk crammed into his home. There were books and papers littering every single space they could possibly think of. Marty picked one up and read the cover: _Journey To The Center of The Earth _by Jules Verne. His father had a copy of that one. There was a wall that was covered with clocks, of all styles and sizes. _So that was what the ticking was!_ Marty thought. Along with boxes of indeterminable junk, there was furniture that looked like it was delivered from 1925 including a big bed and a small army cot. Marty jumped on the big bed, butt-bouncing on the worn out mattress.

"Why does he have two beds?" Marty asked while Dave looked over several pieces of machinery and gadgets. There were all these metal contraptions EVERYWHERE. It was almost like a science museum. Dave wandered from invention to invention, trying to find the perfect one to swipe.

"How should I know?" Dave said as he observed a contraption that could have beeen anything from a tricked-out coffee pot to an engine. Dave pressed one of its colored buttons and flipped a switch. Marty sat up from the bed as the contraption started making this loud artificial hum. Was that some sort of alarm? Or countdown? Was his big brother going to be blown up? Marty didn't wait for that to happen. He ran over to Dave and tackled him to the ground. Dave wasn't as grateful and wrestled his brother off of him until he got Marty pinned.

"What are you doing!" Dave yelled. Marty looked over at the humming machine and saw a can being ripped open. A huge ball of dirt-colored mush splattered into a red bowl that was on the floor.

"Yuck! He eats dog food!" Marty yelled as he struggled under Dave's weight. "Let go of me! I was only trying to protect you 'cause I thought it was gonna blow-"

The sound of a car came from outside. Dave and Marty looked at each other. Despite their awkward wrestling positions.

"It c-could be a-any car," Dave stammered. "We're on a busy street-" A key being jiggled into a lock made them scramble over each other and to their feet. The closest hiding places were the bed and a large worktable. Marty slid underneath the bed like he was heading for home base and Dave did a swan dive for the worktable. They heard the door open and Marty pushed a paper wrapper out of the way to see

Old Man Brown. In all his legendary glory. The frizzy mass of whitish-blonde hair, the hunched back, the all around strange demeanor, there was no other old guy like that around. Marty shifted in his hiding place to get a better view. A moving hunk of fur was bouncing around beside the hermit's feet. _Oh man!_ Marty's mind shouted. _He made a furry Frankenstein! _Marty moved closer.

"All right Einy," Old Man Brown said. Marty was surprised at how gruff and raspy his voice was. Would his voice get like that when he was 100? "Your dinner probably has already dispensed itself."

It wasn't a furry Frankenstein monster racing over to the red bowl. It was a shaggy haired puppy racing over to the red bowl. The puppy started chowing down on the mush mess. Dog food! It was dog food! Marty shook his head at his own stupidity. He totally forgot that Old Man Brown was a dog person. As the puppy ate up, his owner carried two fat paper bags. He went over to the "kitchen" and started un-packing the bags. While he had his back turned, Marty heard a very urgent "Pssst!" come from across the room.

Dave's curly head emerged from under the desk, looking first at Old Man Brown and then at his little brother. He mouthed: "Stay down." Then the thirteen-year-old began crawling across the cement floor. It was a miracle that his body didn't make any sort of noise that would make Old Man Brown whirl around and seize capture of him. Marty chewed on his bottem lip as he watched Dave crawl, army-style, over to another desk that had a bunch of tubes and beakers occupying it. Dave looked back at Old Man Brown and, seeing that the guy was still distracted with washing vegetables off, stood up on his knees. He reached one of his scrawny arms for one of the glass beakers.

Something was pulling on his foot. Dave looked down and saw the puppy playing tug-o-war with his Adidas' lace. The puppy growled as he tugged and tugged the shoelace, wanting to play. Marty covered his eyes. Game over. His brother was as good as dead.

"Get off!" Dave whispered and shook his foot. The puppy didn't quit and kept growling and tugging, enjoying the reciprocating playmate. "Get off! Let go!"

Marty un-covered his eyes and still saw his brother struggling. Old Man Brown was still in the kitchen, noisily chopping something. He could look up at any second and Dave was trapped. Marty thought fast and searched under the bed for something _anything_. His sweaty hand grasped something plastic and thin. A dog bone! Perfect!

"Here pouchie pouchie pouchie!" Marty whispered to the puppy. The little dog's eyes darted over to the third grader under his master's bed. With a yip, he let go of Dave's shoelace and skidded over to Marty's hiding place. Dave lost his balance and took the glass beaker down with him.

"Einy did you knock something over again?" Old Man Brown came out of the kitchen and crouched down at the glass mess. "Einstein?"

"Quit squishing me!" Marty whispered. Dave kicked him as a response and held onto the puppy. Marty kicked Dave right back and caused him to lose his grip on the puppy. 'Einy' trotted out from under the bed and over to his master, not even knowing he just blew their whole mission.

"There you are," Old Man Brown said and scratched his pet between the ears. "Did you get cut?"

"You're bleeding," Marty said, staring wide-eyed at his brother's arm. A thin line as red as a cherry popsicle streaked across Dave's right arm. Marty reached over to the cut but Dave smacked his hand away. Marty smacked him back. "I'm just trying to help!"

"Knock it off Martin!" Dave hissed.

"Don't call me Martin!" Marty shouted and they both broke into a sprawl of hits, clips, kicks, and scratches. Marty pulled on Dave's ears and hit with all his might but Dave still got him pinned again.

"Great scott!"

Marty and Dave snapped away from their fight to see that they had long blown their cover. There they were, brother pinning brother and dangling spit over their face, with Old Man Brown towering over them. Probably waiting for them to stop squabbling so he could vaporize them properly. They were dead ducks and there was nothing either of them could do about it. Nothing except…

"RUN!" Marty screamed as he and Dave scrambled to their feet and lunged in the direction of the door. A hand grabbed Dave's shirt making his escape invalid. Marty turned back but his brother was waving him away.

"Go! save yourself!" Dave shouted as he dug into his jeans pockets. Marty watched him, not moving one muscle.

"Now, kid, hold on-" Old Man Brown began but Dave found his pocket's content. It was some kind of small black spray can, Marty observed. Dave put a hand over his own eyes and sprayed the thing all around like a fancy air freshener. Old Man Brown screamed and stumbled backwards until he fell onto his back. He was still screaming as he furiously rubbed his eyes. Dave took the opportunity and ran over to Marty.

"Grab something off that bench!" Dave commanded as he tugged at the door knob. He was so shaken up that he had forgotten how to open a door the right way. Marty snatched something light off the table as Dave pulled open the door to the dark. Without even thinking of the darkness, the McFly brothers fled into the night and all the way back to their neighborhood.

The next day Marty and Dave, their friends, and Larry met up in the tree house in back of Larry's house. It was their official hang out place rather than the sidewalk. Their favorite too because no one got chalk dust all over their butts there. Marty and Dave sat on a bean bag chair alone while the other boys sat in front of them. The Court of Kiddom.

"Let me get this straight. I dare you to be the first kids to go into Old Man Brown's place, and all you bring back is a stupid toaster?"

Marty held tight of the metallic treasure on his lap. Its cord was lying on the floor on his leg. Its mirrored metal reflected the other boys in a distorted vision. All the other kids in the treehouse were looking at it, seeing it as a piece of junk rather than a precious jewl of victory. Dave, whom was sitting next to his young brother, looked up from the toaster and at Larry the Legend Teller.

"Okay so it's not an experiment," Dave admitted. "But at least it's actually from Old Man Brown's home base. Marty grabbed the wrong thing is all. We were panicked but hey, at least we _went_ inside. You saw us."

Larry considered this with a series of mutters with the other boys of their group. Marty and Dave did a little muttering themselves.

"_I_ like it," Marty said, cuddling the toaster in his arms. "We could put it in our room and make BLTs and stuff. Plus, it's way better than the one Biff switched with ours."

"Yeah I guess," Dave mumbled and looked at his friends. "It's still a screw up, though. No getting around that."

"Maybe they'll have mercy," Marty suggested. Dave rolled his eyes just as his friends stopped their conversation and faced them again. Here was the final judgement. If the dare was approved, then their actions would forever go down in Hill Valley history. If it was null and void, then you could guess what would happen.

0 0 0

Nice brown bread popped up from the new toaster and taken out to be buttered and peanut buttered. Marty put them over his comic book and the two substances were globbed and spread. Some of it splattered on the comic book, desk, and papers in the process. "You know," Marty said out loud. "This is pretty groovy, having our own toaster in our room."

"Yeah it's like a trophy that can make food," Dave said from his bed. "Put chocolate sauce and a cherry on mine."

"Got it," Marty said and added the fixings. He missed the first time with the syrup but the cherry dropped right in the middle of the bread. Marty then picked the desserts up and handed one to Dave and kept the other for himself. The elastic band of his party hat from New Years '75 was making his chin itch. Dave had his on the side of his head, which he thought was as hilarious as it wasn't last year. They clinked bread slices as if they were fancy wine glasses.

"Dave?" Marty asked with a mouthful of peanut butter.

"Yeah Marty?"

"Do you… do you think Old Man Brown's eyes are okay?"

"What?"

"Well, I've seen mom use that thing before." Marty said, looking at his feet. "She took me to a mall in San Fransico once and we were in the parking garage. After the cops came, I asked her what that thing did and she said it blinded bad guys. Did you blind him?"

"I dunno," Dave said and took a big bite of his dessert. "Why do you even care? We had to get out of there alive you know."

Marty was silent as he jumped on his own bed. _Why did _he even care? Old Man Brown was supposed to be dangerous. Well, at least that's what Larry said. If that was true, then why was that guy so nice to his dog? Why didn't he explode them the second he spotted them or dash to call the cops? And when they were wrestling each other, was he watching them for entertainment? And for how long? Marty held his head from all these bizarre questions. Yeah, why did he even care?

Marty finished his open-face sandwich and tossed the crusts at his brother purely to annoy him. It worked.


End file.
